One more week, and then the electoral agony is over (at least ‘til Feb. 26)

We’re one week away from Election Day, which means I’m sure those people determined to support the re-election dreams of Bruce Rauner for governor are doing the countdown big-time.

RAUNER: Counting down the final days

Just seven more days of their guy being smacked about from all sides, and it’s all over. Whether he pulls off a significant come-from-behind victory or becomes just a one-term governor, it will be over and done with for him.

BUT SERIOUSLY, THE blows to Rauner in these past few days make me think seriously that he’s doing the countdown himself.

Consider that Rauner made a point of visiting Murphysboro, Ill., on Saturday to be at the airport when President Donald Trump made his appearance there to tout the congressional campaigns of Mike Bost and all the other Republicans from Illinois whom Trump would like to be retained so as to keep GOP control of the House of Representatives.

Much was made of the fact that Trump went out of his way to give personal plugs to many political types, but somehow fell silent on the topic of Rauner. Did the president even realize the governor was there? Or was it a deliberate snub?

Of course, it could have been worse. Considering how snide and snotty Trump is capable of being when it comes to people he wants to be petty toward, it could have ended with Rauner having to take presidential pot-shots! That would have made Rauner a national joke at the same time that national news was already preoccupied with the Pittsburgh crackpot who brought his firearms to the synagogue and the Florida crackpot living out of his Trump-decorated van who was mailing explosive packages to Dem politicos across the country.

TRUMP: A snub? Or an oversight?

BUT RAUNER MANAGED to enter the final week of campaigning during this election cycle with enough embarrassment from that event. After all, he tried doing his “everyman” act wearing his leather vest that he thinks makes him look like a biker-type kind of guy.

He even wore a sweatshirt of the ABATE of Illinois organization – the group that most prominently argues against laws requiring motorcycle riders to wear helmets because they think it’s their right to have the wind blowing through their hair (and to risk having their skulls crushed from an accident’s impact).

But ABATE is upset with an executive order that Rauner signed off on last week. They went so far as to say they’re taking back their endorsement.

PRITZKER: Will he screw up in final week?

Considering that ABATE gets involved politically in support of social-issue conservatives, their support would have helped Rauner respond to those ideologues who are convinced Rauner is a closet liberal who, deep-down, supports all kinds of other people in our society whom they’d like to cram back into the closet.

THE ISSUE IN question that ticks off ABATE? Autonomous vehicles.

As in those motor vehicles that do not require a human being to drive them, and theoretically are capable of operating themselves.

Rauner’s executive order eases restrictions that would allow such vehicles to operate on Illinois roads, even though there are those people who say that many more safeguards are required before we should even think of letting such cars and trucks loose amongst the human population.

Because, after all, we have enough poor drivers on the roads. Although other would argue that it’s usually the people who cause problems, and that driver-less vehicles theoretically are safer.

ONE THING TO keep in mind is that, as an executive order, in can easily be repealed by future governors (the same way that Trump has gone out of his way to repeal just about everything held over from the Barack Obama presidential administration).

Could a repeal of this act be one of J.B. Pritzker’s first gubernatorial actions – if he manages to prevail come Nov. 6? Or will J.B. have many other symbolic ways of starting off a gubernatorial administration to show just how different he is from Rauner?

Saturday was far from first time  Rauner did the 'biker' routine. Photo by State of Illinois

One more week of this nonsense, then Rauner and his backers can rest.

While the rest of us move on to next year’s municipal elections, where we’ll see if all those mayoral candidates manage to knock each other around to the point where Chicagoans decide to give themselves a third incarnation of “Mayor Daley.”

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